The president of the Dominican Republic () is both the head of state and head of government of the Dominican Republic. The presidential system was established in 1844, following the proclamation of the republic during the Dominican War of Independence. His official residence is the Palacio Nacional.

The article CXXVIII of the constitution instructs the president of the "faithful execution of the Dominican Law" and confers on him the rank of commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, the National Police and all the state security forces. It has the power to appoint ministers, grant pardons, moratoria and the duty of ensuring national security and the collection and faithful investment of national income. The constitution also places it as the head of the state's foreign policy and grants it the power to appoint diplomatic representatives on the recommendation and approval of the Senate of the Dominican Republic. The constitution of the Dominican Republic was published in 1801

The president is elected by universal suffrage for a term of four years. Since the Constitution of the Dominican Republic of 1966, in its modification of 2015, no person can be elected to the position of president more than twice. In case of death, dismissal, or resignation of a president, the vice president of the Dominican Republic assumes the presidency. In the absence of both, the executive branch may organize an interim government or pass control of the government to the legislative branch.

There have been 54 people who have taken office. The first president was Pedro Santana, who was invested on 14 November 1844 by decision of the Central Government Junta. The current president of the Dominican Republic is Luis Abinader of the Modern Revolutionary Party, who won the 2020 Dominican Republic general election and took office on 16 August 2020 from Danilo Medina. He was re-elected for a second term in the 2024 Dominican Republic general election.

Beginning in the first decade of the 21st century, the Dominican presidency has taken on a more participatory role at the global level, strengthening diplomatic ties throughout the world and serving as a mediator in conflicts as close as the 2009 Honduran coup d'état and so far away as the Arab–Israeli conflict.

Origins

The origin of the presidency of the Dominican Republic goes back to the War of Independence, when the Central Government Junta (JCG) constituted the first form of government that the country had in independent and republican living conditions.

The main activities, at such a convulsive moment, were to lead the war against the invasion of the Haitians, since it depended on the survival of the newly born state and the application of emergency measures of a provisional nature in order to put the governmental machinery, the collection of taxes, inform foreign powers of the existence of the new state and extend its dominion over the newly liberated territory. At the beginning J.C.G. He had to keep Haitian laws in force for a while, since otherwise the courts, the collection of taxes, municipalities, customs and other indispensable organisms for the normal course of the institutional life of every society would not have worked. The J.C.G. He ruled the country for an eight-month period.

In July 1844, General Pedro Santana, after a streak of successive victories in the southern part of the country, appeared with his army in Santo Domingo and was proclaimed President of the Junta Central Government. The following month, Santana sent the nation's Founding Fathers into exile. On 14 November of that same year he took office as the first constitutional president of the Dominican Republic.

Constitutional role

thumb|112x112px|Presidential Standard (at sea)

The Constitution of the Dominican Republic, which was most recently amended in 2015, establishes the requirements, rights and obligations of the president of the republic.

The office can be held for up to two consecutive four-year terms. People who have completed their presidencies cannot run for president again.

In 1964, Juan Bosch's freely elected, social-democratic government drafted a new and far more liberal constitution. It separated church and state, put severe limits on the political activities of the armed forces, established a wide range of civil liberties, and restricted the rights of property relative to individual rights. These provisions frightened the more conservative elements in Dominican society, which banded together to oust Bosch and his constitution in September 1963. Subsequently, the more conservative 1962 constitution was restored. In the name of constitutionalism, Bosch and his followers launched a revolution in 1965, the objective of which was restoration of the liberal 1963 constitution.